Singapore

Yesterday Yahoo Travel published an article on “top 10 night markets in the world”. It was clearly written by somebody who has never been to a night market, but that’s not really what bugs me about it. What does bug me is:

1. Yahoo did not get my permission to use my photo.

2. Tekka Centre is not a night market.

3. That is not a picture of Tekka. That’s a picture taken a block away, off Serangoon during Deepavali/Diwali.

Also, Tekka Centre smells like it looks, and it doesn’t look like fragrant jasmine.

Upon further further reflection I realize now that I should have just written about the ‘illusion of meritocracy‘, the ‘culture of consumerism‘ and the ‘me first mindset‘. I could have written those up over 3 days and have been done with it. That’s why I have this website though, to make mistakes and work on my writing skills. Well, it’s too late now, the process has already begun and I still have natural causes to present. Yesterday I addressed Singapore’s lack of control over needed resources due to its location; resulting in a lack of food, water, air and… Read the rest

Singapore can be a miserable place. It can also be a wonderful place. I love Singapore; the food, the blending of cultures, the people, the layout, the ambition and the history of rapid success. But for my present project I’m going to focus on the misery, or more accurately; on the struggle. One thing Singapore struggles with is a lack of free press and free speech. I’m neither beholden to those restrictions or the soft censorship of neighborhood opinion. What I say may, and probably will, offend but that’s not my primary intention.… Read the rest

Before I get into the misery situation in Singapore, something I hope to do by tomorrow, I first want to address the survey that has been generating “Most miserable” headlines. Simply put, the survey doesn’t do a good job of measuring misery and shouldn’t be looked at as an accurate gauge of a country’s misery. The problem here is brand recognition. People hear “Gallup poll” and instantly give it credence. And, in some ways, that’s fair. Gallup is well known for effectively conducting surveys. What they aren’t known for is determining what makes a population happy or miserable. They… Read the rest